Nicholas Tanek interviewed me for the Your Kinky Friends video stream/podcast, where I got to talk about A Lover’s Pinch, BDSM history, and my personal journey through the kink world. There are a lot of other interesting interviews and essays, including a series on the heroes of the kink community. There’s even a video chat with Susan Wright of NCSF.

The Dig History podcast has an episode on the culture of sex work in 19th century America. As far as I can tell, sexual flagellation was not popular in American pornography or sex work, and what little there was was produced overseas and imported. The podcast does include an intriguing reference to sex workers who provided “ropes and braces” (18:29), likely some form of bondage. Another common practice was living tableaus (26:40), in which women would adopt a pose and costume based on popular paintings or sculptures, one of which was Hiram Powers’ The Greek Slave. I suspect there were a lot of themes of capture and bondage in these displays.

Another Dig History podcast episode spotlights that “hero in evil”, the Marquis de Sade.

Speaking of preserving history, San Francisco will designate part of the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood to be a “Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District.” It’s home to the Folsom Street Fair and many gay and kink bars and shops. The Washington Post says, “It will give the cultural district negotiating rights in future development and access to public money.”

D/s sometimes awkwardly rubs elbows with the Christian domestic discipline subculture. The Sexing History podcast has an episode on Evangelical Christian marriage manuals, and their efforts to expand the sexual opportunities within conservative marriage.

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I’ll admit, financial domination was a kink I didn’t really get, even intellectually. I just assumed it was something thought up by pro dommes for guys who were too anxious to meet them in person.

The interview with Mistress Harley on the People of Kink podcast opened my mind and showed me that financial domination and blackmail play is a kink with its own subtleties and intricacies. Money has its own fetishistic value, denoting power and potency, and to be deprived of it can affect some people as strongly as being deprived of the freedom of movement. A prodomme I know once told me about a man who wanted her to demolish his expensive car with a sledgehammer while he watched; she refused, not wanting to risk getting involved in an insurance investigation.

Even more interesting was when Mistress Harley talked about using applications like Teamviewer to remotely take control of her clients’ computers and phones. As technology increasingly becomes an extension of our selves, it makes sense that systems of remote surveillance and control would be fetishized as well. I am once again surprised at just how ingenious people are at coming up with new forms of sexuality.